There are more registered sex offenders living in the community in England and Wales than ever before, new figures show.

Probation workers are now monitoring 43,664 sexual predators, compared to 32,347 in 2008-2009, according to the latest Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA) report.

The figure has gone up because more sex offenders are being imprisoned, for longer, and then being supervised by police and probation officers, the report says.

There are more sex offenders living under supervision in the community in England and Wales than ever before (file image)

Another reason for the growing number of sex offenders is thought to be more people being caught downloading porn.

Coming a week after it was revealed that sex offenders were being released without undergoing any treatment to address their behaviour because of a shortage of places, the latest report showed that over the past five years, almost 400 sex offenders were charged with further serious offences.

And despite surveillance by public protection agencies, 7,294 offenders breached their licence.

Meanwhile the number of violent offenders living in the community under supervision has also gone up.

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The report by MAPPA, under which umbrella police officers, probation workers and staff from other public protection agencies work to supervise known offenders in the community, gives figures for the year 2012-2013.

It shows there are now 16,140 violent offenders being monitored by probation services, up from 11,689 in 2008-2009, and that more than 300 of them have committed further serious offences in that time.

Today, a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said that the average sentence length for those convicted of sexual offences had gone up from 40 months in 2003 to more than 55 months in 2013.

Justice Minister Jeremy Wright, left, said more offenders were given longer sentences and supervision orders; meanwhile Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, right, has postponed the privatisation of the probation service

And Justice Minister Jeremy Wright said the increase in the number of sex offenders being supervised meant his team were simply doing a better job.

He said: 'We make no apology for high numbers of offenders in prison who have committed violent and sexual offences – and for them serving longer sentences.

'This is crucial for public safety, and is exactly why we are scrapping automatic early release for child rapists.

'We make no apology for high numbers of offenders in prison who have committed violent and sexual offences - and for them serving longer sentences.'

Justice Minister Jeremy Wright

'When offenders are released, we are making them subject to longer and more robust periods of supervision that include monitoring by the police and probation services and use of GPS satellite tags.

'These allow us to keep closer watch on offenders and make our communities safer. Sex offenders will also be forced to take lie detector tests.

'Any supervised offenders who give cause for concern can be recalled to prison immediately.'

Last week concerns were raised about the number of sex offenders being released into the community without their behaviour having been addressed while they were in prison.

Prison
reports showed that despite the number of convicted sex offenders
rising, the number of offenders being treated for the causes of their
crimes had fallen.

And the Justice Secretary Chris Grayling put back the deadline for privatising
the probation service after he was told there would be public safety
issues if he went ahead.

He delayed the privatisation of 70 per cent of the probation service by two months to give the new 'community rehabilitation companies' time to test their working methods before going live.